Author Topic: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.  (Read 71905 times)

Offline mklotz

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #50 on: April 18, 2014, 04:15:42 PM »
  Indecently the Internet is based on Unix.

Yes, it does get rather raunchy at times, doesn't it?
Regards, Marv

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Offline John Stevenson

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #51 on: April 18, 2014, 04:57:09 PM »
I think the problem is that Phil has added customised bits to Autocad, as indeed I did when I used it regularly. It's so long ago now I forget the name of the obscure but C like language that is / was embedded.  :bang: I used to use version 2.4 under DOS !!!!!!!!!!

ah ha - quick googling reminds me that it's LISP  :ddb:

The modern release is called STUTTER
John Stevenson

Offline awemawson

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #52 on: April 18, 2014, 05:10:16 PM »
.... don't give up the day job John  :ddb:
Andrew Mawson
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Offline John Stevenson

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #53 on: April 18, 2014, 07:21:19 PM »
No chance.

This bloody lot got dropped off this dinner time.



Wanted for Tuesday afternoon, all need the existing  keyway welding up, shortening, drilling, re tapping, turn down to 15mm [ non standard size ] and new keyway milled in or I don't get down the pub.
John Stevenson

Offline Arbalist

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #54 on: April 19, 2014, 04:31:02 AM »
What most people don't realise is that in some form or other they have been running Linux for quite some time !  Dare I mention set top boxes for digital TV, DVD recorders, Sat navs...  Not to mention Android tablet computers or Apple machines.  One based on Linux and the other based on a Unix.  Indecently the Internet is based on Unix.

Yes, almost everything except Windows! Why is this?!  :doh:

Offline AdeV

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #55 on: April 19, 2014, 06:28:29 AM »
Yes, almost everything except Windows! Why is this?!  :doh:

Mostly because Unix is a damn site older than Windows! It's known to have existed in 1969; Microsoft didn't get into the server market (not seriously, at least) until the early 1990s with Windows NT...
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lordedmond

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #56 on: April 19, 2014, 11:00:50 AM »
And it's better , more robust, it may not have all the frills but it works and keeps on doing that

What about COBOL , FORTH and even CPM

Or for the big boys IPL and it's variants

For what it's worth I do not use win doze I have been a MAC user for many years and I do not regret the move form Dos 3.1 or Win 3

Stuart

Offline DavidA

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #57 on: April 19, 2014, 03:38:43 PM »
Bring back CP/M that what I say ...

I still have CP/M on my Amstrad 8256.  And it still works.

For my 'playing about' stuff I use a 486 machine running DOS 6.2 and GWbasic to create my programs.
That leaves me Assembler for anything that needs to run very quickly.

I like DOS. Lots of programs from way back run on it.

Can you get on to the web from DOS ? (broadband,  that is) I understand you can use 56K if you want to tie up the family land line for hours.

Dave.

Offline CrazyModder

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #58 on: April 19, 2014, 03:52:05 PM »
I fondly remember the time when I tried out all the programs on my 5 1/4" DOS boot disk. I managed to junk the floppy by running some command (renum, recover or something like that) which turned all files names into neatly numbered new ones. Needless to say, it was a long trip to get a new boot disk.

And yes, I had an elite 8086 machine with not only one 5 1/4" drive, but TWO of them!

Offline DavidA

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #59 on: April 19, 2014, 03:57:14 PM »
Two 5.25" on my TRS-80 Model 4 .  Two 8" drives on the TRS-80 Model 16 and two 8" drives on the NEC/APC.

And yes,  before anyone asks,  I do have a large collection of old computers.

My wife hates me,  wonder why.

Dave. :Doh:

Offline BaronJ

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #60 on: April 19, 2014, 04:01:56 PM »
  Indecently the Internet is based on Unix.

Yes, it does get rather raunchy at times, doesn't it?


Hi Marv,
Rubbish spull chuckers  :)
« Last Edit: April 19, 2014, 04:30:41 PM by Baron »
Best Regards:
                     Baron

Offline BaronJ

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #61 on: April 19, 2014, 04:22:53 PM »
What most people don't realise is that in some form or other they have been running Linux for quite some time !  Dare I mention set top boxes for digital TV, DVD recorders, Sat navs...  Not to mention Android tablet computers or Apple machines.  One based on Linux and the other based on a Unix.  Indecently the Internet is based on Unix.

Yes, almost everything except Windows! Why is this?!  :doh:


Hi Arbalist,

Quite simply...  Money !

Whilst Linux is an open source operating system, its also a free licence.  So it doesn't cost anything to use.
However there are costs !  The Linux ethos is that you can take the source code, modify it and use it in your product.  Basically you can do whatever you like with it.  The costs are in the time and expertise needed to make the changes required for your product.


Now you are encouraged to feed back any modifications or changes to the code you make into the community, but you are not obliged to.  Which makes most products that use Linux as a base, closed, in other words proprietary.  No different in principal to anything Microsoft does.  Indeed Microsoft have often claimed that Linux uses some of their code !  I have absolutely no doubts that Windows contains various amounts of Linux code.  Particularly since some of the programmers at Microsoft actively participate in writing code for use within Linux.  Actually there are several large companies actively participate in producing code and promoting its use.

Best Regards:
                     Baron

Offline awemawson

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #62 on: April 19, 2014, 05:01:57 PM »
My first operating system was 8 bit CP/M - a hookey copy and if I remember rightly the source was on 8 inch floppy disc of a slightly different spec to mine. I had to unscrew the index transducer and fix it using Plasticine in a different radial position. My disk drives were Shuggart 801's.

Can't imagine today's kids going to the trouble. Amazing what I managed to achieve with that system. Wrote an emulator for HPGL that  drove steppers on an early Mill / Drill simply so I could profile 'D Type'  socket holes in electronic boxes I was making  at the time.

At least then you could touch and feel the hardware. Nowadays everything is 'abstraction layers' deliberately keeping you away from what is actually happening. :(

OKAY - I'm a grumpy old git , I know  :lol:
Andrew Mawson
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Offline CrazyModder

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #63 on: April 19, 2014, 05:19:12 PM »
Aye. I used to solder LEDs to the data/address input lines of the CPU on an old Atari 800 XL (yes, those things could be used for other things than gaming). It was quite hillarious.

And yes, my kids today use computers (PCs, Smartphones etc.) daily without having the tiniest idea of what it all means or how it works. I couldn't imagine how a kid would get into electronics today - it all must be so boring if you are used to the hightech gadgets, no? ;)

Though I guess the Raspberry PI, Arduino etc. solve that problem and they'll probably get into it just fine.  :ddb:

Offline DavidA

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #64 on: April 19, 2014, 05:31:45 PM »
Yes, the times they are a changing.

I was recently looking through an old copy of ETI (Electronics Today International.  Remember it/) and the lead item was about whether  USB would catch on or not.
Now the D type sockets are gone,  and the much loved (by experimenters} parallel (printer) port is on the way out.

USB reigns supreme !

Well,  not in my house.

Dave.

Hands up all those who know how to convert a single sided 5.25" floppy into a double sided one . :dremel:

Offline John Stevenson

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #65 on: April 19, 2014, 05:42:30 PM »




Hands up all those who know how to convert a single sided 5.25" floppy into a double sided one . :dremel:

Turn it over ??  :scratch:
John Stevenson

Offline CrazyModder

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #66 on: April 19, 2014, 06:25:41 PM »
*Hands over the little snipper thingy for the bloody 5 1/4" operation.*  :lol:

lordedmond

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #67 on: April 20, 2014, 02:56:34 AM »
Yep the floppy ones were all made the same double sided ,you paid double for the ones that they had sniped

My first foray was a Nascom with a home brew drive controller for the floppy running CPM later poly dos

I had forgotten assembler ,those were the days, but for a single task I think it when PDQ

64k of ram to fill up

Stuart

Offline Bluechip

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #68 on: April 20, 2014, 03:36:08 AM »

 ETI (Electronics Today International.  Remember it/)


Yes, I do remember it. ...  :( 

And how long before some ' Gettalife-old-git'  mentions Dick and Smithy ..... 

Aw s-h-y-t-e!!!!!!!!!!! .... I've dunnit .......  :Doh:  :Doh:  :Doh:

Dave

I have a few modest talents. Knowing what I'm doing isn't one of them.

Offline DavidA

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #69 on: April 20, 2014, 02:52:29 PM »
For those who never had the pleasure of getting something for nothing.

Take the 5.25" disc and tap it gently on the table using the edge that doesn't have the read cutaway on it.
cut off the top edge as close to the edge as possible.

carefully remove the disc.

cut another read slot exactly the same distance from the opposite side to the original.

punch out a timing hole for the on the opposite side.

replace disc. tape up the edge.

Now you have a double sided disc.

Oh what fun we had.

Dave.

Offline dsquire

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #70 on: April 20, 2014, 03:09:04 PM »
David

If you keep tempting me this way I am going to have to go and get my 386-16 out that I purchased in 1989 and have been carying it around in its original box for 20 years. With as much as I paid for it back then I can't bear to part with it. If I remember it has DOS 4.0 or earlier on it.
 :doh: I wonder if I could load some flavour of Linux onto it to replace my unsuported Win XP?  :D :D

Cheers  :beer:

Don
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Offline DavidA

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #71 on: April 20, 2014, 04:04:11 PM »
You could go the whole geek hog and run Unix on it.

That would earn you some kudos.

Davw :thumbup:

Offline dsquire

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #72 on: April 20, 2014, 05:16:00 PM »
You could go the whole geek hog and run Unix on it.

That would earn you some kudos.

Davw :thumbup:

David

You walked right into my next question.  :med:

I used to be quite comfortable in DOS. I know less than nothing about Linux/Unix.

I made the comment about Linux. You came back with the comment about Unix

Here are some of the names that I have seen in this thread about Unix.

Ubuntu
Xubuntu
Linux Mint17
Linux Mint13 KDE
Unix
Linux
Mint16
Debian
Mint
Gentoo
Redhat
Suse
"Yggdrasil" Linux
Katya
cinnamon

Can anyone please explain what the differences are and what else one should know so that they even know enough to ask dumb questions.  :D

Cheers  :beer:

Don
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'til your good is better,
and your better best

Offline CrazyModder

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #73 on: April 20, 2014, 05:43:09 PM »
Think of it this way: "Unix" is the whole wide world. "Linux" is a continent (there are other Unixes which are not Linux). The continent has different states (e.g., "Debian-like", "Redhat-like", "self-compiled" ...). All the names you have listed are cities in those states. Some of them are in the same state and share a whole lot of stuff, just having different flavours, but there are different states on the continent.

There you go. :)

If you want to have it dead simple, get Ubuntu. If you want to have a very thorough understanding and almost complete power of your system, get Debian, which is the capitol of "Debian-like" :). If you want to invest a lot of time and do every last little thing yourself, including compiling every single program, get Gentoo. The rest of them are pretty special in one way or another.

Offline AdeV

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Re: To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.
« Reply #74 on: April 20, 2014, 06:53:16 PM »
OK, here goes...

Ubuntu - A version of Linux that's generally regarded as being easy-to-use for computer novices (and nerds alike).
Xubuntu - Ubuntu with an X in front of it.
Linux Mint17 - Mint is another Linux distribution. It's very similar to Ubuntu, but designed to look cool & be even easier to use. Recommended for an absolute beginnier.
Linux Mint13 KDE - As above but an older version (13 instead of 17); and using the "K" Desktop Environment (KDE). See below.
Unix - The grand-daddy of them all. Unix appeared sometime during/after 1969, and grew bit by bit into what it is now.
Linux - A "Unix-like" OS, started by Linus Torvalds in the early 1990s, which has become "really really Unix like" over the years.
Mint16 - Like Mint 17, only one version earlier.
Debian - Like Ubuntu, like Mint, Debian is a "distribution". As it happens, both Ubuntu & Mint are based on Debian.
Mint - See above
Gentoo - Another type of distro ("distribution"). No idea about this one.
Redhat - A deeply horrible distribution, best avoided. Unless you're a 'Hatter of course.
Suse - Yet another distribution. I forget what this one prides itself on.
"Yggdrasil" Linux - Another distro I assume.
Katya - I think that was a version of Mint?
cinnamon - Another "desktop environment" See below.


Desktop Environment - this is how you interact with the computer. How it looks, feels, how it responds to the mouse/keyboard, the borders & icons that surround programs, these are all provided by the "desktop environment". There are 4 of major note:

 - Gnome - the most popular Linux desktop environment
 - KDE - Another Linux one, but generally less popular. Loved by its fans, of course.
 - Apple iOS - Yep, Apple Macs have a Desktop Environment too.... as does:
 - MS Windows - Windows is just a desktop environment at the end of the day, with an OS jammed on the back of it.


HTH!
Cheers!
Ade.
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